Voters reject Osnaburg Local levy request

Voters also defeated Northwest and Fairless Local levies, but passed levies for Jackson and Tuscarawas Valley school districts.

Kelli Young CantonRep.com staff writer @kyoungREP

The party was over even before the festivities got started Tuesday at Osnaburg Local Schools.

Just as supporters of Osnaburg’s levy started to gather at 8:30 p.m., the first set of election results were released. Issue 7 already was trailing by a 3 to 1 margin.

And while the gap narrowed somewhat throughout the night, the roughly 30 levy supporters watching the results in the school’s cafeteria never found a reason to cheer.

Final unofficial elections results show that 62 percent of Stark County voters defeated Osnaburg’s request for a three-year, 6.5-mill property tax that would have generated $564,000 a year for Stark County’s smallest public school district. No votes were cast among the district’s Carroll County voters.

Besides Osnaburg, Fairless also saw its request for additional funds defeated and Northwest voters appear to have turned down the district’s request for a renewal. Voters in Jackson Local approved its renewal levy, and Tuscarawas Valley Local, which had 140 votes cast in Stark County, passed its 10-year, 8.9-mill levy by 129 votes.

Osnaburg Superintendent Todd Boggs, who was hired in September, said he would meet with his leadership team during the next few weeks to reassess and reevaluate the district’s situation before determining its next move. He did not anticipate any immediate cuts to staff or operations.

“I think the economy is tough,” said Boggs, who will continue to hold community chats every Thursday at the school. “I think our community supports us, but with the way the economy is it’s very difficult.”

Boggs said the district sought the tax, which would have cost the owner of a $100,00 home $228 a year, to provide opportunities for students by reinstating busing to the roughly 260 students who live within 1.55 miles of the Browning Avenue school and lowering pay-to-participate fees.

Several voters on Tuesday said they didn’t trust the school’s leaders or believed the district was wasting their tax money.

“They had more kids 50 years ago and only needed one superintendent, one principal and ... a secretary,” said Dan Grosskopf. “Now they have too many (administrators) ... and each one has a secretary.”

Tuesday was the fourth time Osnaburg had sought a new tax for operations. The district hasn’t received new operating money since 1998.